Cheerleading champs
THE Sunway University Cheerleading Team took home the gold in the Level 4 Co-ed Open division at the Asia Cheerleading Invitational Championships (ACIC) 2015 in Singapore recently.
The ACIC was organised by Active Sports Enterprise and supported by the Cheerleading Association (Singapore).
“Winning the Gold at ACIC 2015 was really a blessing. We never thought we could actually win, as one of our members was injured during the routine,” said team choreographer and head coach Kong Dickson.
“When we were announced as champion for our division, most of us were crying tears of joy, knowing that all the hard work and dedication had paid off,” he said.
He said they were the last team to compete in their division.
“The first half of the routine was basically perfect. However, during the second half of the routine, one of our members Lim Jovi was injured during the jump section.
“She suffered a hyperextended knee after doing the pike jump. She was in immense pain but tried her best to complete the routine.
“She took about 20 to 30 seconds to stand and by the time she reached her next position, her knee couldn’t bear the weight and she collapsed again.
“The rest of the team managed to cover for her and completed the entire routine,” he said when speaking on the team’s performance.
The cheerleading team in Sunway University was established in 2013.
When Kong enrolled at Sunway last July and found out about it, he wanted a team to compete in the National Cheerleading Championship in 2014.
He took almost two months to form a team to compete in the Nationals, where they won the champion’s trophy in the Level 3 Co-ed division.
The cheerleading team, which comprises eight male and 12 female students from Sunway University and Sunway College, practises once a week during the off season and three times a week in the two months leading up to a competition.